Greece has suspended all national league and local cup tournaments after an arson attack on refereeing chief Giorgos Bikas.

The Hellenic Football Federation (EPO) made the announcement on Wednesday following the arson attack early on Wednesday in Halkidiki, northern Greece.

Bikas is reportedly safe and his family as they were away from the burnt property.

“Following an extraordinary meeting, the EPO announces its decision for the suspension of all national football championships until the conclusion of the investigation into the causes of the fire by the fire services.

“The EPO expresses its full compassion to Mr Giorgos Bikas, whom we will support in every way possible,” the EPO said in a statement following the incident.

The incident comes after Giorgos Tsachilidis was threatened by two men leading to the resignation of all three members that constituted the refereeing committee (KED). The football season was moved forward by two weeks following dispute between the Greek government, the EPO, and top Greek clubs. Continue Reading

Raheem Sterling has admitted that he had a tough time prior and during the Euro 2016.

He said that he had to endure some harsh criticism for his performance during the tournament. Indeed the Manchester City player was the target of critics after England poor performance at the Euros, and he was substituted early in the games against Wales and Iceland.

He was criticized for his displays during the tournament, but he admitted that things were quite tough prior to the tournament as well. He said that there were negative stories about him and also plenty of criticisms in the warm-up games. He admitted that this had affected him morally and this may have an impact on his performance in France.

He said that it was not easy to play in this situation. He said that he wanted to prepare himself well in order to represent his country and instead, he had to face some intense criticisms before the Euro 2016. He said that it was the first time that he was criticized bluntly and he did not have any support to deal with the criticisms. He believes that this is the main reason why he has performed poorly at the Euros in France, but he does not want to use this as an excuse. He said that he would improve and work harder for the next tournament.

He said that he has learned from the experience and that he will improve himself. He said that this season has started well for him and that he is looking to win matches with Manchester City. Raheem Sterling has been playing well this season, and it appears that he is among the players that are benefiting from the arrival of Pep Guardiola at the head of the team.

Heimir Hallgrimsson reckons Iceland’s Euro 2016 Squad Players are already Legend whoever was a part of the Icelandic Euro 2016 squad has gained the status of a legend already and would not be forgotten by any Icelander ever.

Iceland had had the services of two coaches in Euro out of which one was Hallgrimsson and the other was Lars Lagerback.

But, Lagerback, post the tournament, took up an advisory role offered by his home association, which is Sweden, leaving Hallgrimsson to take over as the head coach in the Icelandic set up.

According to Hallgrimsson, <a href=”http://www.manutdbrunei.com”>soccer is not going to remain only a game in his nation</a> from here on, but, it is going to get much bigger than that.

Speaking after landing on the home soil, Hallgrimsson said, “The Icelanders would be talking about these boys forever like the Englishmen talk about their heroes of 1966. It’s huge. It has increased our stature as a nation.”

“The welcome we had is hard to describe. I would say, rather than asking me, you should see the pictures because they show everything. I mean there are memories which are always fresh in your head and it’s going to be of those memories for me; that’s for certain.” Continue Reading

The 15th edition of UEFA European Championship 2016 will be held in France as per the schedule from 10th June till 10th July 2016. The Euro 2016 will have 24 teams as contestants this time.

There has been an announcement made by the Portugal of their squad of 23 men for the European Championship this summer in France. Europe will be led by Cristiano Ronaldo at Euro 2016. Ronaldo, the forward of Real Madrid will aim to add to his international goals which have been 56 till now. There have been players of Premier League chosen by the head coach Fernando Santo namely Jose Fonte and Cedric Soares; the defenders for Southampton who are likely to make the cut and Luis Nani, the former winger of Manchester United have been selected as well.

Ricardo Carvalho, who was the former defender for Chelsea has been involved in the 5th international football tournament, although he had not featured in the World Cup and Euro 2012 two years ago. Renato Sanches, who has recently moved out of Manchester United in order to make an entry at Bayern Munich, is also an active member of the group. Sporting Lisbon has 4 players in the club as Rui Patricio, the goalkeeper and William Carvalho, Joao Mario, and Adrein Silva have booked their seats to fly to France.

Portugal would be kicking off its campaign against Iceland in Group F at State Geoffrey on 14th of June. Ronaldo and Co are all prepared to play for Austria which is going to be held in Paris at Parc des Princes on 18th of June before they conclude the group stage match against Hungary on 22nd of June in Lyon. Well, let’s see which team gets a chance to compete in the FIFA Confederations Cup 2017 which will be hosted by Russia.

Football pundit Guillem Balague has stated that Portugal does not play like a team, and that is what is affecting their results. He believes that the team has a tendency to rely on Cristiano Ronaldo, but when the latter is marked closely, Portugal does not have an alternative.

For him, Portugal will have to work as a team if they want to have a successful competition. He said that they had enough opportunities to score goals during the first half, but they did not take them. And when Iceland equalized, they panicked and lost their team spirit. Continue Reading

Ahead of the final round of games at the group stage, Welsh fans already sense trouble. Wales is set to meet with Russia in the final group game B encounter which will be a cracker, based on the current group standings. Russia have already received suspended disqualification from Euro 2016 after violence at the game against England.

The Monday game is believed could brew trouble, especially when fans’ expectations are not met. The games in France have seen a lot of violence, and with the games on Monday, the Haute-Garonne prefecture has raised the security risk-level to three on the one to four scale. Welsh football fans in Toulouse have said they are “apprehensive” about the meeting with the Russians. The security team which comprise of British and French police said they had taken “sensible and positive measures” ahead of games. Continue Reading